Committee Actions and Information
UNM Retiree Health Care Plans
4/13/12 - Under 65 yr. old 2012-2013 Health and Dental Plans overview sessions are being held on campus through April 24. You need to register to attend. Find the times and locations and enrollment tab at http://hr.unm.edu/docs/benefits/open-enrollment-benefits-overview-presentations.pdf.
3/22/12 - Under 65 Health Care Insurance: UNM's Under 65 year old and active employee health insurance plan premiums FY 2012 did not cover claim costs. The Division of Human Resources held six Employee Health Plan Open Forums which reviewed UNM’s employee benefits, current and projected costs, and options to deal with rising costs. If you were unable to attend, a recording of one of the sessions as well as the presentation slides are viewable at:
http://hr.unm.edu/articles.php?article=2012-2013-employee-health-plan-open-forum-presentation1/18/12 - Pharmacy Services for UNM Staff, Faculty, Retirees & Students: The SHAC Pharmacy fills prescriptions from all licensed practitioners, including providers outside of UNM. They accept the following health insurance plans: Advance PCS, Aetna (with Caremark logo), BlueCross Blue Shield, Caremark, Catalyst, Cigna, Express Scripts, Lovelace, Medco, Presbyterian, Prime Therapeutics, Tricare, Student Health Insurance Plan A, Student Health Insurance Plan B (birth control only), and United Healthcare. The Pharmacy is located on the second floor of Student Health & Counseling. For info, call 277-6306 or visithttp://shac.unm.edu/pharmacy.html
11/10/12 - Presbyterian Additions to Summary of 2012 UNM sponsored Medicare Plans (D. McKinney)
11/5/12 - Summary of 2012 UNM Sponsored Medicare Plans Benefits for 65 & Over Retirees (D. McKinney)
Educational Retirement Board (ERB) - defined benefit plan
1/30/12 - Action needed – contact SB 150 committee members. Link to Legislative Action Needed Nowfor more information.
1/26/12 - See the attachment COLAs:The Elephant in the Room for the effect of the ERB proposal of age 55 to receive the educational pension and 12.5% COLA decrease for all current and future retirees. The ERB proposal is currently in the 2012 Legislature as SB 150. The ERB pension with these changes is compared to PERA state employees who are offering no changes in their generous pension plan.
1/19/2012 - Post: The ERB has proposed rule changes: Rule 2: requiring current member mail and email addresses, and Rule 3: listing of what monies will be included and excluded for ERB compensation calculations. Comments due to ERB by Feb 13, 2012 @http://www.nmerb.org/
1/17/2012 - Post: The ERB solvency proposal is a minimum age of 55 to receive the ERB pension and decreasing all current and future retirees COLA by 12.5% (average of 1.75%). This is expected to be introduced this 2012 legislative session.
1/16/2012 - Post: All members please contact your legislature now. Please write and/or call your legislator opposing any cut in the ERB member’s COLA. The “Legislative ERB Talking Points” is for your use as desired in composing your individual response.
12/8/2011 - Years to age 65 COLA: Lost purchasing power with 3%, 3.5% or 4% CPI by G. Birkholz
12/8/2011 - Impact of COLA 1.75% with CPI 3.5% on Value of ERB Pension Benefit by D. McKinney
11/10/2011 - The RA Benefits alternate proposal #7 to the reach the ERB solvency goals supports no decease in the current COLA but instead moves the minimum age to receive the ERB pension to age 60. Nov 10, 2011 RA Benefits #7 ERB Proposal
11/6/2011 - RA Benefits Committee #7 alternate to ERB proposals for solvency RA Benefits ERB #7 recommendation
Tuition Remission and other Benefits
Tuition Remission
11/11/11 - UNMRA Benefits Committee moved Staff Council’s Resolution 2011-7 Reinstatement of UNM Tuition Remission Benefit for Personal Enrichment Classes to the UNMRA Board for approval. Passed unanimously and support was forwarded to HR & Staff Council leadership.
8/11/11 - After input by current and retired staff and faculty, tuition remission can now be used for some UNM CE courses in “health and wellness”. These specific courses are an exception to the new rules that tuition remission may not be used for CE “personal enrichment” courses.
Other Benefits
4/13/12 - 403(b)/457(b) Tax Deferred Annuity Information -Retirement Manager: IRS rule changes in 2009 designated employers instead of vendors as responsible for the legality of withdrawals from tax deferred annuity (TDA) accounts. This rule change is why anyone wanting to withdraw money from their 403(b) or 457(b) account must get forms approved from UNM payroll. For problems with withdrawals call UNM Payroll Department at 277-2353 or email pay@unm.edu to ask for help. “Retirement Manager” is a new UNM web-based secure access point from which you may manage your UNM supplemental retirement plan accounts. This area provides the amounts that are in your TDA. One can also make changes to your account or request withdrawal certificates under Retirement Manager.For general information about Retirement Manager and FAQs go to: http://hr.unm.edu/retirement/retirement-manager.php. To access the Retirement Manager go to: https://www.myretirementmanager.com/?unmx. You will be asked identity questions as well as your UNM ID number to create your Log in ID. There is a help section at the bottom of this initial Retirement Manager Log In page.
2/20/12 - Your new Standard Life Life Insurance has no designated beneficiaries. All retirees who had active life insurance policies with Cigna through UNM were automatically transferred to Standard Life, the new UNM carrier, on January 1, 2012. But if you had designated a beneficiary to your Life Insurance under Cigna, that beneficiary did not transfer to Standard Life. You currently have no designated beneficiary to your UNM Life Insurance policy. You must re-designate a beneficiary to your UNM Life Insurance with Standard Life. Look below at the Jan 31st announcement here for Standard Life's phone number and/or how to initiate this online.
2/1/12 - Lobo Perks for Retirees - Have you heard about the LoboPerks program?It’s a partnership between UNM and vendors who offer discounts to the Lobo Nation! The retirees have been included in the program, and many of the vendors extend their offers to us. You can check out the listings at http://loboperks.unm.edu/perks-page.html, just look for the red “R” next to the vendor’s name. If you want to be notified when new LoboPerks vendors join the program, simply send an email to loboperk@unm.edu and request to be added to the notification list. Your email address will only be used to announce new vendors and maybe ask for feedback once in awhile.1/31/12 - Life Insurance now Standard Life - We have a new carrier for our Life Insurance which is Standard Life. Cigna is no longer the carrier. Note this is Life Insurance not Long Term Care Insurance. Our Long Term Care Insurance is still with UNUM. All retirees who had active life insurance policies through UNM were automatically transferred to Standard Life on January 1, 2012.
This change resulted in a cost decrease for both early and senior retirees. Recently, a Standard Life post card regarding a Special Enrollment opportunity and a reminder to update beneficiary designations was mailed to all active and retired employees. Retired employees are not eligible to increase life insurance coverage. The intent of the post card was to remind retirees to update beneficiary designations. Beneficiary designations will be managed online by Standard. It is important for all retirees to logon to Standard's online enrollment site at www.standard.com/enroll and update life insurance beneficiary designations. For instructions on how to access Standard's enrollment site, visit http://hr.unm.edu/docs/benefits/first-time-logon-instructions-standard-insurance-company.pdf. Remember to enter Banner ID in the SSN box when you logon to Standard's enrollment site for the first time. If you need personal assistance in accessing Standard's enrollment site to update beneficiary designations, contact Standard at 1-866-623-0622.1/17/12 - Post: Standard Insurance effective 1/1/2012 is the new carrier for UNM Life Insurance. All currently enrolled retirees wereautomatically transferred
11/13/11 - Post: RA Benefits Committee Action: HR, Elaine Phelps, responses to RA Benefits current questions/concerns
